Overcrowded Hallways
by TalsLittleWorld
Summary: A new fic about our favorite TV duo. AU. "Kurt has always been bullied and ignored at school, just trying to survive till he got out of McKinley. Blaine just transferred to McKinley, after being bullied at his old school and forcibly moved to Lima. What happens when two loners collide? Well, stay tuned". - Summary subject to changes as this story progresses
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

It was the first day of school and Kurt was already ready for it to be over. It was his senior year and nothing has changed, if Karofsky shoving him against his locker and dumping a grape slushy over his head was anything to go by.  
"Welcome back, homo!" Karofsky yelled in his ear. "Here's a little something to remind you where your place is."  
Cackling, he and Azimio sauntered down the hall, fist-bumping as if they'd done something worth being proud of.  
Shivering from the chill of the gooey, sugary syrup and shaved ice, Kurt picked up his satchel and hurried to the boys' bathroom. Once he was inside, he locked the door and walked over to the sink, trying his best to get out as much purple slush out of his hair, off his face and out of his clothes without staining them too much.  
Too late.  
Defeated, Kurt slumped his way back to the main hallway, trying his best to remain calm and get to class without any more harassment from the Neanderthals who apparently thrived on making his high school years miserable and lonely.

Blaine was lost. Yup. That was it.  
He was late, already went into three wrong classrooms and still had no idea where he was headed. He tried stopping people on the way, but they either didn't care or were freshmen still gathering their bearings.  
Why did his parents have to up and move to Lima for his senior year? Couldn't they wait till he graduated? Couldn't they maybe send him to California, to live with Cooper  
Blaine sighed, trying his best to understand where, in this maze of concrete, lockers and bored teenagers, where his next classroom might be.  
"Are you lost?"  
His head perked up and he saw a petite pretty girl looking at him inquisitively. She had a hideous reindeer sweater, a headband placed perfectly in her hair keeping it from her face, and Mary Jane shoes that encased her feet in knee-high socks. Blaine hoped she was at least nice.  
"Excuse me?"  
The girl looked slightly annoyed at his slow comprehension. "I said, are you lost? You've been circling this hall for like ten minutes already and class is about to start in five. Are you lost?"  
"Um, yeah. Do you know where Mr. Schuster's classroom is?"  
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Ohmygod, you're in the same homeroom as me! I'm Rachel, by the way, we're going to be best friends, I can tell. Come on!"  
"And without further explanation, she tugged his arm and yanked him after her; Rachel was maneuvering her way through the hall expertly, not giving Blaine a chance to really understand where in the hell they were going, or whether or not he even wanted to be her friend.  
They finally made it to the classroom and Blaine managed to extract his arm from her vice-like grip.  
"We're here!" Rachel announced excitedly, and bounded into the classroom and took a seat right in front of the teacher's desk.  
Great, Blaine thought belligerently, a teacher's pet.  
He was at least hoping to make friends that would keep him from the bottom of the food chain. But, alas, his luck was as shitty as it has always been. Resignedly, he made his way to the teacher's desk, where a man in his early thirties, wearing a sweater vest that did not in any way make Blaine feel better, and a mop of light brown curls, was sitting trying to sift through a high stack of papers.  
"Um, sorry. Are you Mr. Schuster?"  
The man looked up and smiled warmly. "Yup, that's me. I take it you're Blaine Anderson? The new transfer from Westerville?"  
Blaine nodded shyly.  
"Welcome to McKinley, please take a seat…. Uh. Well, I guess you can sit next to Kurt, over there."  
He pointed at the back of the classroom. Blaine's breath stilled in his ribcage as he turned to look at the person Mr. Schuster was referring to.  
The boy, Kurt, was nothing short of ethereal. His skin was pale, his hair was chestnut brown and perfectly styled – albeit being sticky with some sort of purple goo – and his eyes, despite being downcast on his desk at the moment, captivated Blaine in a way none have for a long time. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he noted gratefully that Rachel's face was crestfallen that he wasn't sitting next to her. He couldn't cope with her excitement this early in the day.  
Oh yeah, there was the other reason that Blaine's parents transferred him. He was gay.  
In his previous school, he was bullied for taking another boy to the school's Sadie Hawkins Dance, and beat up pretty severely. His parents weren't exactly concerned, but they definitely decided that this was no environment for Blaine to remain in; so here he was, at McKinley High, starting afresh for his final year of high school.  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%;"Back in the present, Blaine slowly made his way to the young man in the back of the classroom, silently hoping that maybe this year will be different.  
He sat down quietly, trying not to startle the boy, but he merely kept his eyes on the wooden desk, not even acknowledging Blaine's presence.

"Welcome to McKinley, please take a seat….Uh. Well, I guess you can sit next to Kurt, over there."  
Fantastic, Kurt thought, just when I thought this year couldn't get worse.  
From his peripheral vision, he noticed a pair of loafers making their way to what used to be his desk, and his desk only, but didn't even want to look at the new kid. He was just another person who would ignore him or harass him this year, better not to make himself an easy target.  
Homeroom period was over and they were expected to leave for their first classes, so Kurt quickly stood up and began his way out, but was stopped by a hesitant hand on his arm.  
"Um, sorry. But I was kind of hoping that you could show me where my next class is? I have English Lit., any idea where that is?"  
Kurt was forced to look up and he nearly passed out from lack of breath.  
The boy was short, but not too short to warrant any midget jokes, he wore the brown loafers on his feet that Kurt noticed before, but inside those were no socks – what the hell kind of a person doesn't wear socks in their shoes? – But Kurt kept on inspecting this new arrival; his brown pants were really tight and left very little to the imagination, and were paired tastefully with a green polo shirt that was also really tight and clung to his muscles. His face, though, was what really knocked the air out of Kurt's lungs. His skin was slightly tanned, his eyes hazel, warm and extremely expressive – now expressing hope, confusion and helplessness. He reminded Kurt of a lost puppy. His hair was black and curly, and was plastered to his head with an alarming amount of gel that, if Kurt had been allowed, would be washed away to see what they would look like without it.  
"So do you?"  
Kurt was snapped out of his reverie and looked confusedly at the new kid.  
"Do I what?"  
The boy was startled to hear his voice for the first time, but shook his head and asked again, "Do you know where English Literature is?"  
Kurt flushed, having been caught, and nodded. "I have it, too. So you can follow me.  
"Cool." The boy said happily.  
"Yeah, cool," Kurt said softly. And with that, Blaine followed a very shocked Kurt out of the classroom. _Maybe this day won't be as horrible as I thought_.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hey guys. So yeah, I started a new story. I really hope to finish it this time. It's AU, so basically I'm in new waters here. First time for everything, right? Oh man. Okay. Basically, I need to know if you guys like where this is going and if you want to see some more. I can honestly promise 100% devotion right now seeing as I'm unemployed, bored, and not a student or anything. So, let me know - favorites, reviews, etc. Looking forward to hear from all you lovelies! Muaaaaah!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Okay, so here's the next chapter. I have a basic idea of what's going to happen. It's mainly going to be about the boys, and maybe some OOC (Out Of Character) reactions from the rest of the characters that RIB have already provided.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own _Glee_. Any rights of the characters' and places' names, appearances and locations are reserved solely to RIB and FOX. The rest - well, you'll just have to wait and see, don't ya? ;)**

 **Here goes nothing.**

Chapter Two

By the end of last period, Blaine was dizzy from information and from trying to understand this weird, intricate maze of a school. He was used to people teasing him for how he dressed, so that wasn't new, but what he was unprepared for was the blatant hatred and violence he received from the athletes. The rest of the student body seemed to be happy to just ignore this, unwilling to risk Karofsky and Azimio's wrath.

His last period was Social Studies. And he was tired. Dying to get home and just snuggle in his bed and try and survive tomorrow.

He went into the classroom and was once again astonished to see Kurt sitting all by himself in the back of the class.

This has been the case in every single lesson they shared – which appeared to be every single lesson throughout the day. Kurt would sit alone, and the teacher would assign Blaine the seat beside him, the only seat available.

By this point, however, Blaine had given up on trying to make conversation with Kurt. He was radio silent ever since he led them to their English literature class and only spoke when called upon in class. Blaine was scratching his head trying to understand this beautiful, yet strange, captivating boy.

Kurt was at a loss for words. Not that it was something new for him. He wasn't that much of a chatterbox around people outside his family, but today he just couldn't even think straight.

Ever since that boy, that Blaine Anderson, was assigned to sit next to him in homeroom, he couldn't concentrate. He was constantly sneaking looks at the boy, trying to understand what it is about him that drew him like a moth to a flame.

Ever since he arrived at school and came out to his father, finally accepting himself, he became a social leper. He was pretty much willing to deal with the hatred that accompanied him everywhere and that no one would talk to him. He had no friends, no one to talk to, his only social interaction at school was when he was called upon in class – and even that occurrence was scarce – or when he needed something from a teacher.

So why did he feel the sudden urge to talk to this new boy? He was confused all day.

He finally made it to Social Studies, the final class for the day, and prayed that Blaine and he would not share the class; they have been in the same class all throughout the day and Kurt needed the emotional reprieve. But no such luck.

Blaine walked into the classroom and scanned the space, his eyes immediately locking onto Kurt's, who ducked his head, his cheeks flushing for some unfathomable reason.

The teacher looked up and pointed in Kurt's direction, Blaine nodding silently.

 _Great_. Kurt thought disdainfully, and tried to concentrate on the curriculum that the teacher was now dictating in a monotone voice.

The following day was faring no better for Blaine.

Rachel accosted him the second his foot crossed his homeroom threshold, demanding to know whether or not he be interested in joining Glee Club, going on about something to do with her last chance at stardom and needing to apply to NYADA.

 _What's NYADA? Nude Erections!?_ Blaine was scratching his head at this point. He really did not understand this girl, and was even beginning to fear her presence.

From the corner of his eye he could see Kurt watching him with subtle amusement. That was the first positive emotion Blaine had seen the boy express ever since they met for the first time, and it lit his face gloriously.

He made his way to his seat and turned to Kurt, who once again lowered his head, fixating his gaze at the desk.

"Is Rachel always this intense?" Blaine asked, trying his best to make conversation with this silent boy.

Kurt lifted his head up, his eyes wide, the blue inside them swirling with something akin to wonderment.

"Are… are you talking to me? Still?"

Blaine cocked his head curiously. "Why wouldn't I? I haven't become mute." His eyes glinting with mirth.

Kurt flushed and shook his head. "Nothing. It's just, not many people want to talk to… someone like me."

Blaine furrowed his brow in confusion, wondering why on earth someone would not want to talk to Kurt. He would talk to him forever, if only to hear that beautiful voice. He decided to try again.

"So, Rachel?"

Kurt's mouth lifted a bit and nodded. "Yeah, she … um, she's the leader of the Glee Club and they really need new members to win Nationals, so she's always attacking the first new kid she sees."

Blaine took this information in. This was the most Kurt has spoken so far, and he was not about to give up on talking to him any time soon.

"So, what's Nude Erections?" he asked quietly.

Kurt's eyes widened, then scrunched in confusion, as he was trying to understand what Blaine was talking about. Suddenly comprehension came into his features and he began laughing.

"You mean New Directions," Kurt corrected.

"Sounds the same to me," Blaine shrugged.

"That's the glee club's name. It's been this way for three years. Just go with it."

Blaine nodded, smiling to himself.

Kurt's mind was reeling. Blaine wanted to talk to him! And not just because he wanted homework, or was going to beat him up. This was so new and strange to him. He hasn't talked with anyone his age in so long that he had to think and rethink everything he said before it came out of his mouth. He was not about to make a fool of himself in front of this gorgeous boy.

As the day went by, Blaine kept on making small conversation with Kurt, and even sat with him at his own table at lunch.

"I don't know anyone else here except you," he shrugged when Kurt's eyes widened in shock as he sat down next to him.

Kurt could see the rest of the class viciously staring at them all day long.

In English literature, when Blaine and he were working on their project together, he caught Stoner Brett watching them with astonishment.

In Math, Puck was trying his best to eavesdrop on them, clearly having heard the rumor that Kurt was talking again.

In Gym, however, Kurt sat on the sidelines as usual, Blaine joining the rest of the class, so, for the first time in a while, they were separated. Kurt wasn't complaining though, he watched Blaine in those tight shorts and couldn't help but shiver. He was definitely attractive.

Which made him even more confused. Why would a handsome, undoubtedly straight (Kurt didn't let himself daydream about it, that would just be pathetic), want to talk to him? He must have already gathered that Kurt was a leper, should always be avoided, and not spoken to under any circumstance?

By lunch, the rumor mill has spun so out of control that every student in the hall was staring at Blaine and Kurt, who were sitting at the same table.

"I haven't really made any friends yet," he shrug his shoulders innocently when Kurt asked him what he was doing.

This just had to be some kind of cruel joke the jocks were playing on him again. It had to be.

It was nearing the end of the day, and Blaine was getting more and more frustrated. For two reasons.

The first was the constant glares everyone seemed to send him and Kurt in every class they had, in the lunch hall, and while walking the corridors. It was as if speaking to Kurt was like speaking Latin. He didn't understand what the big deal was at all.

The second was Rachel. The girl seemed to pop all over the place, sending not so subtle hints that they really needed new members for the _New Directions_. He had to keep correcting himself in his mind whenever he thought about it.

"We're meeting in the choir room every day after school at four, just come over and see for yourself. I'm sure you'd like it and we really need new blood," she told him right before Mrs. Nolan walked into the room.

Kurt was waiting for him at their desk and Blaine was glad to have a normal conversation partner. "Man, am I glad this day is over. Rachel is like one of these weird whack-a-mole guys that keep popping till you hit one on the head." He whispered in aggravation, letting out a puff of breath.

Kurt pursed his lips in amusement.

"Still trying to recruit new people?" he asked quietly.

Blaine nodded, running his hand over his gelled hair. "Is there any way to avoid her?"

"Tell her you can't sing?" Kurt suggested.

Blaine snorted. "Maybe."

Before they knew it, class was over and it was time to head home.

Kurt was putting back his books back in his locker, keen to head home after this exhausting day. He suddenly felt the presence of someone behind him. He braced himself for the worst and slowly turned around, keeping his gaze down.

"Kurt?" he snapped his eyes up. "Are you okay?"

It was Blaine.

It wasn't Karofsky trying to shove him into a locker, or Azimio with a big cup of grape slushy. But Blaine.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Sorry, I thought you were a jock or something."

Blaine once again cocked his head to the side in confusion, his eyebrows scrunching down as well.

He really needed to stop doing that, it was beyond adorable, and Kurt was having a hard time keeping things neutral inside his head.

"All done for the day?" Blaine asked kindly.

Kurt nodded silently.

"Do you want maybe to hang out today?"

Kurt's eyes widened in shock.

He never hung out with anyone. Not ever. No boys or girls ever wanted to spend time with him. He didn't even know how to hang out.

"S-s-s-sorry. Can't. Homework. Family. Stuff." He stammered, trying his best to hide inside himself.

Blaine's expression fell in disappointment, but tried his best not to show it. "Okay, maybe some other time."

And with that, he headed out of the building and home.

Kurt was so screwed.

 **TA DA!**

 **So! What do you think of Kurtsie and Blainedays? hahaha I'm so stoked for you to see what's coming next. I have a basic idea of where this is going, but I make so many changes while writing it's actually going haywire and makes me roll my eyes more than Chris Colfer's Kurt.**

 **Once again, I would love to hear what you guys have to say about this, and whether or not I should keep up this creativity outlet. (JK, I can't stop this train from arriving at its final destination).**

 **LOVE YOU ALL!**

 **XOXO TAL**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: *Thanks to the reviewers***

 **Alrighty, so I know, I know – loner Klaine is so cliché, but trust me, there's reason behind this. In this chapter we're going to see a little more behind the scenes (and the reason behind this M-rating), and yes, there will be some angst. Don't kill me.**

 **I want to formally apologize for the abnormal wait – I wanted to do updates once a week – but I had a bit of a depression bout over the weekend and the beginning of the week, so I was really out of it. But I'm back. So ready to entertain you guys – and I really hope you will forgive me for this crappy excuse of no updates.**

 **Once again, disclaimer: All characters' names and appearances, places, etc. belong to RIB and FOX, all characteristics and events are my own imagination, no copyright infringement intended.**

 **Without further ado, let's see what our boys are up to.**

Chapter Three

 _It was the last period of the day and Blaine was running out of time, the dance was tomorrow and he was stalling. Damn his nerves._

Okay, just do it _! he told himself. And, making sure that everyone left, he steeled his nerves, walked up to the blonde-haired boy just about to leave the classroom, tapping his shoulder tentatively._

" _Um, Todd, do you have a sec?" he asked nervously._

 _Todd turned to him, and smiled warmly. You really couldn't ignore how adorable Blaine was._

" _Yeah, what's up?"_

" _Um," Blaine hesitated, his confidence all but evaporated. "Okay, I'm just gonna come out and say it, do you wanna go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me?" biting his lower lip and closing his eyes. Fearing Todd's answer._

 _Todd's eyebrows shot high up into his bangs. Wow. He wasn't expecting that one._

" _Um, look Blaine… you're really cute and all, but I can't… not yet…" Todd blushed; looking around to make sure no one heard him._

 _Blaine's face fell marginally and nodded, "I guess I get it. I just thought we could, like, I dunno, go as friends? No one even has to know we're_ together _\- together, you know? If you want," he added hastily. Already deflating at the prospect of not having a real date to the dance, but he'll take what he could get._

 _Todd took a deep breath, not really sure how to answer the request._

" _Oh, what the hell, we only live once, right?" he joked, and smiled as Blaine's face lit up like the adorable puppy that he was. "But as friends, okay?"_

 _Blaine nodded vigorously. Already planning his outfit and the whole evening. It was going to be perfect._

 _It was a disaster._

 _The second he and Todd walked in, every head turned towards them, whispering behind their hands so obviously that Blaine wondered why even bother. And they haven't even been holding hands!_

 _The second Todd sensed the tension, he turned his face regrettably to Blaine and whispered, "I'm sorry, I can't do this. Not yet." And he walked off to talk to one of the girls standing alone, trying his best to ignore Blaine's crestfallen face._

 _Pierce, one of the school's popular jocks, sauntered over, followed by his usual cronies, a smirk on his face at seeing Blaine standing there helplessly on his own._

" _Hey, Anderson! What's up? Can't even get a fag to go with you to the dance?" he asked, the rest laughing with him like hyenas._

 _Blaine cowered in silence, he knew better than to argue with these idiots. No good came out of violence._

" _I asked you a question, QUEER!" Pierce boomed, grabbing Blaine by the collar of his dress shirt. "Look at you, you won't fight, you won't answer, no wonder you're a fag!"_

 _The entire room was silent. No one dared make a move, fearing they might receive the wrath of the jocks and risk their reputation at school._

 _Blaine stood his ground, though. "Just because I won't use violence and have more sense to think before I talk, it makes me automatically unmanly? Jeez, Pierce, what does that say about you?"_

 _Pierce's hand closed tightly around Blaine's throat this time, his face red with rage, "Watch it, Anderson!" and with that, he dragged Blaine outside to the parking lot._

 _The rest of what happened was pretty foggy to Blaine. He couldn't exactly remember who did what – but he did remember the numbing pain. First came the blows to his stomach, then his head was bashed against a lamp post, and when he crumbled to the floor, he couldn't tell which way was up and which was down – the kicks and jeers were everywhere and he was just praying for it to be over._

 _And then it was over._

 _Darkness enveloped Blaine, and he was relieved for the reprieve from the pain and was content to just lie there, without anyone hurting him._

 _But it didn't last for long. Before he could fully appreciate the relief, he was hoisted up and carried away. He forced himself to open his eyes and saw that his father was there, carrying him towards their family car._

 _Turns out that Todd finally felt bad for Blaine, and called Blaine's father, telling him everything._

 _Little did Blaine know that the worst was yet to come._

 _Blaine's father carried him up to his bedroom, laying him on the bed and looking down on him. By this time, Blaine was almost completely conscious and looked up at his father._

" _Dad. I don't get it, how did you…?"  
"A Todd kid called the landline," Peter Anderson said, his face emotionless. "Said that the school's football team was beating you for showing up at a school dance. That they warned you not to come, because they didn't want fags there."_

 _Blaine flinched at the derogatory, but otherwise didn't say anything._

" _Blaine, please tell me that this kid was wrong. That the footballers were wrong. That you're not… a…"_

" _Gay? Blaine asked, once again feeling tears in his eyes Yeah, I am.". He hated appearing weak before his father, of all people, but he knew it was about time they had this talk._

 _Peter's eyes darkened and he ran his hand over his face. "Blaine, we already talked about this. I thought it was a phase; that you will grow out of it. Being… that… will only bring you trouble. I'm not surprised at what happened, but now everyone knows, so… I'm sorry, son, but we'll have to move you out of that school."_

 _Blaine's eyes widened in shock. "Dad, being_ gay _," his father flinched at the word but he went on, "being gay is not a choice! Why in the world would I choose to be humiliated and beat up by the rest of the school? Yeah, I like boys, I can't change that. I thought that at least my parents would understand me more than everyone else."_

 _Blaine's father shook his head. "Look, it's gonna take time. Okay? Just… wait with telling your mother, will you? She still has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that you like to sing."_

 _Blaine laughed darkly, "Tell me about it."_

 _Blaine didn't want to go to school the upcoming Monday, but he knew that if he didn't, he would have to stay at home with his mother, which was kind of the worst option in the world right now – Peter told Angela Anderson that same night what happened, and Blaine could hear her shrieks of denial all the way up to his room on the second floor – and then there was the fact that the rumor mill would probably spin completely out of control that when he did show up, he would have to deal with a load of stares and whispers that he had no idea about. At least, with him there, he would have some idea of what to expect._

 _So, there he was, standing at his locker, closing his eyes against the stares, pointing fingers, whispers, snickers from all of his classmates. It was amazing that all these teenagers, most of them have been his friends since he stepped into the school, were now watching him with hostile glares while he tried to just get through the day unscathed._

 _A month flew by, and it hasn't improved, if anything – it worsened. Blaine became completely invisible at school, only speaking when spoken to, and trying to avoid everyone. Gone was the excited boy who just wanted to please his friends and sing his heart out. Now there was a shell of a boy who was just hoping to go unnoticed._

 _So, when his father told him that he and his mother were getting a divorce – somehow, she was unwilling to remain in a household and marriage where homosexuality was accepted – and that they were uprooting form Westerville to Lima, Blaine felt an overwhelming sense of relief._

 _A new place to start anew. Maybe he will be able to survive high school and even make some friends in the process._

 _Kurt Hummel was sitting on his bed in his basement bedroom, wringing his hands nervously while contemplating his resolution for the new school year. He was about to start high school tomorrow and he was about to do it as a proud and out gay teenager._

 _Last night he came out to his father, which was surprisingly easy. He nearly laughed out loud as he recalled what his father had told him – "Yeah, I know, kiddo. You spend all your time in front of that damn mirror with your face cream and stuff, and when you were three all you wanted for your birthday was a sensible pair of heels. How clueless do you think I am, huh?"_

 _But that was his dad, the person with whom he lived his entire life and knew absolutely everything about him, yet never judged him. Tomorrow was high school. The most judgmental place he would ever face. He glanced at his chosen outfit for the momentous day and sighed. He was done hiding who he was._

 _The instance Kurt stepped into the hall of William McKinley High School, every single head turned in his directions and the whispering started immediately. Throughout the day, he was receiving rude and disgusted glances and not-so-discreet whispers of 'Yo! Hummel's a fag!', 'does he_ have _to parade his fairy ass like that? If I wanted an ass show, I'd go to a strip club, not high school.'_

 _His teachers were subtler about it, but not better – he had no idea how much homophobia had caught on in Lima until he arrived at his last class and the teacher, Mr. Samberg, gave him the dirtiest look he had received from the entire staff that day._

 _By the end of the day, Kurt wished he hadn't come at all. He had made no social interactions whatsoever, no one would look at him, and those who did would do it out of spite and finish it off with a scathing remark or an extended foot to trip him._

 _While he was waiting for the bus in the parking lot, wishing nothing more than to be home, he suddenly heard this big ruckus behind him and, stupidly, turned to see what was going on. The school jocks were walking toward him, followed closely by two other students who seemed to be freshmen – although they were really big in build – all looking enraged and had their fists clenched._

" _Hey, fag!" the boy at the front of the group called, his face twisted up in a ferocious snarl._

 _Kurt paled and lowered his gaze, trying his best to not do anything that would warrant any type of unnecessary attention._

" _I said, hey fag! What, you deaf now on top of being a fairy princess?" the boy smirked, now standing right in front of Kurt. "We wanted to ask you something."_

 _Kurt gazed up, taking in the hatred in the boys' faces, but before he could respond he was knocked forcibly into the concrete underneath him, and he could hear raucous laughter above him._

" _We wanted to know, how does it feel to be on the bottom?"_

 _And with that, they walked away – cackling while Kurt was left, bruised and beat up, aching on the cold concrete bus stop._

 _From that day onwards, Kurt was a constant target for the footballers' bullying needs, had no friends whatsoever, and was practically invisible to the entire student body. His only social interactions were with his teachers, and even that was only for the purposes of his studies._

 **End note:**

 **So, that's the backstory chapter. This is really just a filler to get a feel about where our beloved boys are coming from. The following chapters will go back to the present narrative. Stay tuned – and naturally, review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hey, guys. I'm so sorry for not updating for so long - I just got my hands on _The Land of Stories_ series by Chris Colfer, and I CAN'T PUT IT DOWN! No, seriously. It's like beyond amazing - it's like reading a cutesy story inside Chris's mind, it's bananas.**

 **Um, I'm honestly not sure about when I'll update next, but it will happen. Don't worry.**

 **I'm just working on making them qualitative and longer. So it's kind of hard...**

 **I'd like to take the moment and thank my amazing beta, Daniela. Babe, you da best!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the events that I made up in this story)**

* * *

Chapter Four

Kurt and Blaine were sitting quietly side by side in the classroom, listening to the teach explaining the importance of punctuation, grammatical structure, and above all – spelling.

"I cannot believe that I'm still receiving essays where it says 'loose' instead of 'lose' and almost always the rule 'I before e' is ignored," Mrs. Krone chastised. "You're seniors, for heavens' sake!" some students at least had the decency to blush; the others were staring at her blankly. "Which is why I'm assigning this year's project in pairs. Your partners are your neighbors," Blaine's eyes bugged out of their sockets and he sneaked a sideways glance at Kurt.

From what he gathered throughout his first week at McKinley, Kurt was more or less a wallflower. No one cared about what he did, except for the jocks who enjoyed taking out their frustrations on him, and no one really knew anything about him, except that he was gay.

Blaine tried making friends. He caved in to Rachel's imploring and joined Glee Club, and quickly made friends with Sam Evans, a nice albeit clueless boy, who was obsessed with comic books as much – if not more – as Blaine was.

The only time he had any sort of one-sided interaction with the enigmatic Kurt, was during classes. He spent his lunches with the new Directions (he finally learned how to pronounce it properly), but he was anxious to get back to class, if only so he could continue studying Kurt.

So, when Mrs. Krone assigned the pairs according to seating arrangements, Blaine was thrilled, but he had no idea how this gorgeous (because, let's face it, he was undeniably drop-dead gorgeous) boy would react. But there was nothing. Except for a subtle, almost unnoticeable, twitch of his nose. Kurt remained expressionless as ever.

"I really hope that you will be able to go over your essays and submit something readable," Mrs. Krone went on. "Now, for your assignments, I want you to pick a novel from either the 19th or 20th centuries, analyze it according to the rubric that is going around, and present it to the class at the end of the semester. Your grades will be equal on this project, no matter who does what, so make sure you put in equal amounts of work. Now, please discuss for the remainder of the class your outline."

Most of the students scurried into hushed conversations about their work, while some chose to spend the allotted time lounging in their seats. Blaine shuffled around in his seat until he was facing Kurt, who was staring at his rubric, still immobilized. Blaine sighed.

"Look, I get it that you don't want to talk," he said quietly. "But we're gonna have to communicate somehow if we're gonna get a good grade in this project. I'm not gonna fail English Lit…"

Kurt slowly raised his head to look at him with those big, round, fear-filled blue eyes, and dropped his gaze immediately. "I can do it all, if you want," he said, almost inaudibly.

Blaine's eyebrows shot up high on his forehead and anger flared red hot in him. "Like hell you are," he hissed, startling Kurt. "I'm not some dumbass pity case, Kurt. I don't need you to feel like I'm not up for it, if we're doing this, we're doing this together!"

Blaine immediately regretted his outburst, seeing Kurt flinch and cower in his seat, looking like a deer in headlights, lowering his head once more. He ran his hand over his face, trying to compose himself.

"Sorry," he said softly, trying but failing to catch Kurt's eyes. "I didn't mean to snap. It's just I really don't like people questioning my intelligence. I'm more than happy to work on this equally with you, ok? Let's meet today at your place and we can figure out what novel we'll work on. Where do you live?"

Kurt was panicking.

He was in his basement room, trying to put everything in its place for Blaine's imminent arrival. He put all of his face masks and creams in his hope chest, and the hope chest underneath his bed; he took all of his scarves down from their hangers and unceremoniously stuffed them in his closet; then he looked around and sighed resignedly, well he didn't have enough time to take down all his posters, so Blaine will just have to deal with it, even if it was an eyesore for anyone who didn't appreciate the brilliance of musical theatre.

He was just sitting down on his bed to catch his breath, when he heard his father holler from upstairs – "Kiddo! A Blain Anderson is here to see ya, says you two are working on some school project."

Kurt sighed and trudged his way to the door and yelled up, "You can let him in, Dad. It's fine."

And he went back to his bed, sitting primly with his books all strewn across his bedspread, awaiting the start of what was sure to be a long semester project.

Finally, Blaine made it downstairs and Kurt was stunned to see that the boy had everything they needed – including two or three novels tucked safely underneath his armpit.

"Well, I see you came prepared," Kurt said in surprise, looking at Blaine with wonder.

Blaine did a double take. This was not the Kurt he met at school. This Kurt was confident, sarcastic and sassy, and altogether far more confident than the scared teenager he met at school. He took a deep breath and walked slowly into the room, removing the novels he had brought from under his armpit and sitting next to Kurt on the queen-sized bed.

"Um, yeah, like I told you, I don't want to fail English Lit.," Blaine said quietly. "Um, yeah, so I brought some of my favorite novels, you know, for the project."

Kurt lifted an eyebrow and looked down at what Blaine brought – _Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, and To Kill a Mockingbird_ – and looked up at Blaine, squinting his eyes.

"Not bad," he finally said with an impressed smirk, and sat back. "I actually thought to bring up _Oliver Twist_ myself."

Blaine's face brightened and split into a wide grin. "Great! So, I guess that's what we're going with. Now, I thought we could go with the theme of maybe child abuse and its affects back in the 19th century and how it's evolved all the way to the 21st century, then cross-reference it with domestic abuse. Um, but, you know," he scratched the back of his neck self-consciously, clearly embarrassed for having spoken so much. "You can pick whatever you want to write about, it's just something I thought about."

Kurt cocked his head to the side and observed Blaine. He never really took the time to observe the boy at school, having been too afraid that the jocks has turned him against him like the rest of the school, but he was completely endearing. Self-conscious, shy, trying very hard to please everyone, and not at all frightening.

"Hmm," Kurt said, trying his best not to freak out like he did at school. "Well, I guess considering the novel is _Oliver Twist_ , it makes sense, and domestic abuse – well, I guess we can work on that. It's definitely something I hadn't considered."

Blaine nodded thoughtfully and looked around, looking for something to say, and his eyes fell on the many posters that littered the room.

"You like musical theater?" he asked, glancing timidly at Kurt.

He really had no idea how to act around this Kurt. He was confident in his own skin, unafraid to speak his mind, and always held his gaze.

"Yeah, I do," Kurt said fondly, walking over to the _Wicked_ poster that was taped between that of _Fiddler on the Roof_ and _RENT_. "I really want to go to New York City and see those for myself, and maybe…" he trailed off, blushing furiously. "Never mind," he went on. "So, if we're going to go with the child abuse thing, I think we should maybe research it in the library."

"Huh?" Blaine looked up, as if in a trance, "uh, right, sure, so you wanna head there now? Or…."

"Well, I hardly think it would do us much good now," Kurt snarked, smiling to soften the remark, "but how about tomorrow after school? Just give me an hour to take the slushy out of my clothes, okay?"  
Blaine gaped after him as he walked over to his walk-in bathroom to wash his face. "Um, take the what out?"

Kurt looked at him, bewildered. "Slushy? The thing they threw at me the first day of school? I get it every day, so I need extra time to take it out before I head home."

Blaine looked down at his lap, and couldn't understand the sudden burst of rage he felt at learning this new bit of information. "But… but why?"

Kurt quirked his eyebrow at this. "Uh, cause I'm gay?"

"But… but why don't you stand up to them, then?" Blaine burst out, hardly able to contain himself or control his words. "Why are you always so submissive and accepting of their bullying?!"

Kurt glared at him. "Why do you even care?" he asked, also raising his voice. "Why do you care about me so much? Why do you always sneak a glance at me but never do anything about it if you care this much?"

"I don't know! I really don't, Kurt," Blaine tried to explain. "But here you are, this extremely confident guy who's not afraid to tell me how it is, and what you think of anything, and then at school you're just rolling around and taking whatever those jackholes are giving to you! Why?"

Kurt's face was red now and he strode over swiftly to his door, "I think you should go," he said softly, not looking at Blaine. "I'll see you tomorrow at the library tomorrow after I take out the slushy."

And with that, Blaine walked out. Leaving Kurt to slump on his bed, crying for the first time in four years.

The next day, Blaine was sitting patiently in the school library, anxiously awaiting Kurt's arrival.

After he left the Hummel residence last night, he spent the rest of the day in his room, trying to understand his feelings about what he had learned that day.

Kurt was being bullied at school, having slushies, punches and shoves thrown at him all because he was gay, and yet he never once lost sight of his dreams.

Blaine was so caught up in his pondering of Kurt's bravery, he hadn't even noticed that the subject of his thoughts had arrived and was now standing in front of the desk Blaine sat at, waiting patiently for him to come back to the present.

Sensing something has changed; Blaine lifted his head and nearly toppled back out of his chair at the shock of not being alone anymore.

"Jesus Freaking Christ!" he yelped, clutching his chest. "How long have you been waiting there?"

Kurt shrugged, biting his lower lip to stop himself form laughing – flustered Blaine was adorable.

"You should warn a guy," Blaine gave him a lopsided smile, desperately trying, and failing miserably, at hiding his blush at having been caught daydreaming about Kurt.

"Looks like you were thinking pretty hard there," Kurt said softly – causing Blaine's heart to flutter, his voice was so musical – "something you wanna share with the class?" he continued with a tilt of his head and a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Blaine gasped; it was the first time he saw Kurt expressing any sort of emotion at school. Sure, classes were out, but they were still in the building. Blaine hurried to focus and shook his head, letting out a huff of laughter. "Um, no. I was just wondering where you were, that's all."  
Kurt sat down and rested his chin on his hand, his head tilted again, as if to say, _seriously?_

Blaine laughed again. "Really, it's not important. Let's just start this project, okay?"

And so they started researching information for their report, trying their best to ignore the little flutters they felt when they were around each other. Once in a while, Blaine would lift his eyes to glance at Kurt and he smiled softly at his brow furrowing in concentration, but then shook his head and went back to work. Every ten minutes or so, Kurt would lift his head and nearly had a heart attack at how cute Blaine looked completely immersed in his reading, his pencil shoved in between his teeth and his eyes squinting at a paragraph.

This routine went on for about a week. They would meet in the library, pretend to be completely immersed in their work, but secretly sneaking glances at one another.

Around the beginning of October, Blaine decided that enough is enough. He was fairly certain that he was crushing on Kurt and, despite being a target of bullying from the jocks, he did want to be able to go to the upcoming Halloween party, and he wanted to go with Kurt.

So, on the morning of the first Monday of October, Blaine gathered all the courage he could muster and walked over to where Kurt was standing, like he always did, and tapped him gently on his shoulder.

Like always, Kurt would drop his books in shock, looking up with big, round, frightened eyes – fearing that one of the jocks was out to torment him again – and like always, he would let out a big sigh of relief and smiled at Blaine; who did his best not to melt on the spot from those beguiling blue eyes.

"Would you… maybe want to go to the Halloween party?"


	5. Announcement

Okay, so this isn't really a story, more of an announcement. One that has been a long time coming.

I have neglected this site in favor of pursuing my life and trying to make a living for myself and all that adulty thing that everyone must do.

And I've only just now realized how completely empty it's made me. So, I'm happy to announce that in the upcoming week I will be posting some new stories, along the same lines of Klaine, naturally, since they're my faves and they never go out of style, and I really hope that you guys can overlook my negligence and support me in this new endeavor of writing therapy.

(Also, my English is like a hundred times better than it was when I wrote back then, so it's sort of also been a "learning period" haha)

Thank you all for your understanding, and I'll see you all the next time I post... Ok, I need a deadline.

Hmm ... I think this Friday should be good. Let's make Fridays post-day! YAY! It's Friday, Friday ... ok, now I'm just rambling ... see you 3


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